San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1887-11-02
THE M0RMON'S SUNDAY.
A SABBATH SCHOOL AMONG THE
FOLLOWERS OF JOSEPH SMITH.
Ceremony of Blessing the Bread and
Preparing the Sacrament for the Chill
dren-BessIhg the wst-r-Seripture
Reading, Bible Stories, Etc.

stoNitst
have been to church twice today-in the
morning. TO Mormon Sabbath school and in
the afternoon TO the services in that turtle
like structure which is called the tabei uacle.
What | saw and heard impressed me most
favorably regarding the strange people who
have found Zion among the Wasatch Hills,
and whose mission is multiplication and the
Teplenishment of the earth. | shall say moth
ing further, however, concerning my impress
sions. 1t will be best TO tell my readers what
was said and done, and from this simple state
ment they can then draw their own conc!u.
sions
The Sabbath school began at 10 o'clock. 1t
was held in long rectangular one story
adobe building, with plastered exterior ais
and commodious wings built and finished
with the same material. This is the Thir
tenth Ward school, and there are twenty
other similar buildings in Salt Lake City.
They are called ward assembly halls and ere
used for meetings and Sunday classes The
word ward must not be accepted i'll its po-
litical senses. Bishop Mellen Atwood sat on
a long bench on a platform at the north end
of the hall On each side Of him were Will
liam Ncylor, superintendent of the school;
Nelson Empy, the bishops first councillor;
Hamilton G. Parks, Missionary Lyons and
two teachers. Before them was a pulpit, and
beside tho pulpit on tho right and left were
high fiat topped desks covered with table
cloths and carrying several pieces Of glisten-
ing silverware, two water pitchers, two or
three cake baskets and half dozen goblets.
In the cake baskets were tiny cubes of bread,
each less than toothful. The room, prob
ably 7Ox30 feet in dimensions, with good
high ceiling neatly frescoed, and presenting
the symbols of the church-the all seeing eye
and the bee hive-was filed with benches,
and tn sc were occupied, in the mid lie space,
by women and girls, while the mel and boys
sat at the sides Of the hall
Some OF the children were toddle S; most of
them from 6 to s years Of age. Among the
little girls in the first line, just under the pull
pit, were two grandchildren of Brigham
Young-one faxen haired and sweet faced
creature of about 8, the other younger and
darker and saucer in features, but also girl
All the little folks were prettily and plainly
dressed, the health was on their cheeks and
the CLEANS of happy homes in their eyes. Yet
some of their fathers were in the penitentiary
serving terms for polygamy, and the fathers
Of others were underground, perhaps. By
underground l do not mean dead. The term
is In common use here, and is applied to the
Mormons who have been indicted and are in
hiding from the authorities. Some of the
women were very old, but the young women
were fresh as flowers blooming in garden,
and their charming toilets seemed to partake
of the modesty and reserve of the wearers.
There were wee bits Of boys in one class, and
there were sensible, sober looking young men
from IS to "a years in another More than
dozen Of the occupants of side benches seemed
to have reached the age Of 40 There were
evidences in the general appearance Of the as
semblage of the thrift, order and neatneSs for
which the Mormon people are remarkable.
The exercises opened with a prayer by the
superintendent, in which he thanked God for
the privilege of spending another Sabbath to-
getber, and asked new blessings at his hands.
Then there was a hymn. One of the gentle
men on the platform next recited prayer,
and a second hymn followed. Then Bishop
Atwood took the pulpit and told the
school that he was about to bless the bread
and prepare the sacrament He explained
the meaning of the communion and said the
bread was blessed and broken in commence
ration of the body Of Christ. 1t was a grand
privilege to be permitted to partake of the
sacramento privilege that was granted only
TO the true children Of God. The few words
spoken by the bishop were simple and to the
point. The tenderest child could understand
them. This explanation of the sacrament
Is made every Sunday, and the children are
each time told to take the bread with their
right hand and to be sure that the hand is
uncovered.
Immediately after the bishop said this to-
day the little ones began pulling off their
gloves and mitts. The bread was blessed
IN a few words, the Lord being called upon
to sanctify it and TO extend his sanctification
TO the bodies of those who received it. After
the blessing two small boys came forward,
and, taking the cake baskets, passed them
along the seats. Every person in the building
except the correspondent took one Of the
cubes of bread and ate it. Some little
ones grabbed up a cube and clapped it
into their mouths with grin. Others dipped
their left hands into the basket, but were
quickly corrected One or two of the old
folks used their left hands. The sacrament,
though, was impressively administered, and
do not think the statement made by Gentiles
will hold, that the Mormon's method of deal
ing with the viatcum is sacrilegious. 1t does
look rather foolish to allow 6-year-old chill
dren to partake of it, but nearly every one Of
the old people present to-day began to eat
the bl, ssed bread In such assemblages as this
when they were youngsters, and they do not
appear to have allowed familiarity to blunt
their appreciation of the sacred quality of
the proceeding. While the bread was being
passed around, sacramental hymn, written
by Eliza r. Snow, the Mormon pOeteSs, now
aged So years, was sung.
The next thing in order was blessing the
water. Missionary Lyon did this, using the
same formula as that spoken in blessing the
bread. Bishop Atwood had explained in his
talk TO the children that water is used instead
OF wine, because Joseph Smith had the fact
revealed to him that wine was adulteTated,
and it was better to use pure water than bad
wine; after awhile, when the people became
richer wine would be used in the sacrament.
The water that was blessed was contained in
the silver pithers. Goblets were filed and
passed around, each individual taking a sip.
Beautiful Zion" was sung, and after that
twenty minutes were devoted to reading les
sons. The children went into one room with
teachers-the young men into another. The
ladies sat in their seats and read where they
were. The youngsters were told Bible stories.
The old folks read the Scriptures, and the
young men, who constituted what was called
the theological class, read from the Book of
Mormon. In twenty minutes they reasSem-
bled, and the school sang
Missionary Lyon commended the progress
which the school was making, and told his
hearers to fear God and do no evil Then
Mr.. Parks, who is, / believe, a high priest,
spoke the benediction, asking the Lord to
bless the church and its children and its
officials, and to send wisdom and the light of